When Alexandra Brannigan (nee Dimitrakopoulou) and her husband moved here from Dublin in October 2005, their accommodations situation was still in the temporary/house-hunting phase. And, as she was just about to give birth to their second child, she returned to her native Athens for delivery, remaining there until December 2005.

“Women from ex-communist countries aren’t afraid to give birth here,” she says, “but, for whatever reason, Greeks and Americans prefer to go back home.” Now familiar with the country, she is interested in learning more about child birthing procedures and traditions here.

Though she had grown up in Bulgaria’s southern neighbour, she explains that most people “have no idea what it’s like” in this country. “We think it’s backwater or something.”

Fortunately, her expectations were not met. “I was very surprised because I found it very similar to Greece – the people, the food, the traditions, reactions to things.” In fact, it was easier for her to adapt to living here than to Dublin. (Brannigan’s husband works for the Irish embassy.) Since arriving, they’ve made “really nice friends for life, not just acquaintances”.

And while they do not travel as much as they once did, partially because they do not own a car, they enjoy the life in Sofia – though, she says, it can get dull, particularly on the weekends.

Compared with Greece, the open spaces, like parks, are much better and available. With the children, they go and play around, sporting at ping-pong and going swimming when it is warmer. And then there is the kouklen (puppet) theatre, the mountains… and there was SofiaLand, but no longer.

One of the challenges of living here in comparison with Dublin is that things are not so child friendly. A lack of quality selection of clothing, toys and books for the little ones leads her to take advantage of trips abroad. But still, this, too, is better in Bulgaria than in Athens, she says.

When it was time to enrol their son, now four and a half, in school, they deliberated sending him to a nice nearby Bulgarian kindergarten, where, for 60 leva a month, he would receive full-day care, food, etc, or in a private English-language school. They opted for the detska gradina, but it didn’t work out, because he didn’t understand the language. All forward for the second option. Once at the Anglo-American School, he became his old happy self.

In general, though, Brannigan finds the level of childcare here to be notably good, and affordable, very reliable, hard working, and loving with the charges.

A lawyer and translator in Greece, when Brannigan and her husband moved to Dublin in 2002, she switched to translating full time, on a freelance basis, something she continues to this day. Between Dublin and Sofia, it is the former that was harder for her to adjust to, in part because she was just starting out a family and it was all new.

 “Dublin was very different in every way. A different mentality, different everything,” she says, and it was difficult being away from her family in Greece. “But now, we have our own family, so it’s easier.” Plus, she says, “I feel very comfortable here, very much at home” in Bulgaria. Feeling nearer to her country of birth helps, even though she does not go home too often, maybe four times a year.

Of course there are things she misses – hopping on a ship and going to the nearest island, the standard of living, the weather, the huge diversity of venues. She calls Athens more of a metropolis.

“And the food is gorgeous – there is more variety of vegetables, we use basically olive oil, which makes everything taste automatically more tasty, great bakeries and sweet shops. But it’s easy to get stuff from Greece in Sofia.” And to assure this supply, her mother sends her a monthly care package.
She notes that when they first arrived, it was possible to find the Sunday editions of major Greek newspapers here, probably bought at the border and driven up in someone’s car, something which has since stopped.
Part of the challenge of Bulgaria is this country’s mentality. “I miss being more uplifting. Sometimes, here, I feel there is a cloud of not depression, but you can feel that it’s hard going for some people. Parts of the city are so derelict, it causes you pain almost,” she shares.

What being Greek means to Brannigan is the “certain mentality, the way we view family, the fact that the best holiday in the summer has to be in Greece, and nowhere else, the complicated history, that it is a Balkan and Western country at the same time, that people are very spontaneous and very friendly”. And all this is very diverse, and well preserved.

She describes something called “parea”, basically the idea of being together in a group of friends and going out together, eating, drinking, singing: a fundament of Greek character. Finding this sense of togetherness in Sofia has helped living here, home for the next two-and-a-half years, and home for now.